Underused gear
 

I noticed today that I rarely engage 5th gear, mostly for a brief second before shifting to 6th. Do you guys use fifth gear at all or am I an idiot?

I use 5th more than 6th because of lack of highway driving. But on a highway I may short shift from 4th to 6th at times.
Don't use 6th unless I'm over 55ish

I shift into 6th at 45 if I'm planning to cruise without speeding up.

As for 5th, I use it a lot, we got a lot of 35 mph speed limits in my area, so I go +5 which is 40, 5th gear is right on at that speed.

Side roads and hills make it useful out here in the west.
It's happier at higher revs than it would be in 6th.

Fourth is prolly' my most used gear.

Fifth is kind of a stepchild. A little too tall for 35-40mph side roads, a little to short for highway 55+ mph.

You're not an idiot. Use it however you're comfortable.

I mostly use reverse.

5th is perfect for 40-45..

5th is fine for 35 if you're simply cruising. I used to drive like this :
1st-up to 12ish
2nd up to 20ish
3rd up to 30
4th up to 40
5th up to 54
avg mpg was 26
now I drive 3rd 22+
4th 30+
5th 37+
6th 47+
MPG is 30 now.

I agree, but I just don't find myself driving in that speed range much.

Nobody shifts based on RPM anymore? Or keeping the motor out of the "dip"?

i only use 1st

We're talking about holding gears given mph. Not mutually exclusive to when we shift into those gears

I usually go 1-2-3-6 when pulling on the highway:iono:

This is like choosing a favorite rung on a ladder.

Ahem. I misread that part. Maybe I need to pay attention to the speedo. Where is that?

Depends heavily on what is above or below you.

Lugging an engine, (higher gears at lower speeds) not good. Tough on the rod bearings.
I use the tack and pay less attention to what gear i'm in. keeping it around 3K. not below 2K and shift at 4 ish.
unless I'm in play mood, (which is often) and winding it up a bit. down shifting and using the motor is loads of fun too.
If you're gonna drive around at 2K rpm all day, then you should have a Prius :)
These cars were meant to have fun, use it!

Please tell me how to have fun during a 20 mile highway trip with mild traffic lol. Without breaking the law it is. Haha

2nd is nearly useless. I am usually in 4th or 5th when i am driving in the city.

What dip..?

Look at any stock twins dyno sheet. Somewhere in the area of 3k rpm the torque dips from a linear progression.

I short shift a lot and get caught in 60kmh zones which is 5th gear at 2.1rpm. Don't mind saving gas in the city and just cruising.
I seem to just leave it in 2nd or 4th for spirited driving though.

The small one you have despite your mods. Much less than mine, though, which is why I drive above it.

i think 2nd is useless, 1 and 2nd are so close that, i can start off in 2nd but i don't, well maybe in snow or rain i might, please no need to tell me engine lugging is bad, i kno

Now that I've got a UEL header + tune, I find myself downshifting into 5th for lazy passes going 65+ mph on the highway. There's enough torque at around 4000 RPM to make it happen.

Funny, because 3000 rpm is right where I tend to keep the engine. Seems plenty responsive from that point upwards.

To the OP, with a shift point of 5-5500rpm, and a desire to cruise at 3000 rpm during most of my in-town driving, I find both 3rd and 5th to be the odd gears out and hence rarely visited. I would have preferred that this car had a 5 speed.

I Love 5th, Traffic on highway, over taking at 75mile +

I love 5th gear. Good for passing on freeways & for just puttin' around town.

I sometime downshift to 4th on the freeway if I wanna redline, dat exhaust note.

Yeah, unfortunately it's STILL present. But nowhere near as bad. The UEL header made a massive difference. While I feel little gain up top, the car starts pulling much much sooner, and pullls vigorously right from the get go. Probably around 2700-3000 it really kicks in, and just doesn't let up. COMPLETELY changed the feel of he car, it's much more 'streetable' now, in the sense that I don't have to always be rapping it out to feel it move.

Incredible record high pressure here in Seattle along with sub freezing temperatures.
Butt dyno is telling me that someone snuck a supercharger in while I wasn't looking.

Day-um! Wants to GO!